Columbia man pleads guilty in connection to fatal shooting

COLUMBIA — A Columbia man became on Tuesday the third person to plead guilty in connection with the fatal February shooting of Corey Brown in the parking lot of the Ballenger Liquor and C-Store. Andre Lee, 21, pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted robbery and armed criminal action.

Lee is one of six people charged in the crime, a drug setup that ended in a shootout.

The attempted robbery charge carries a sentence of five to 15 years, and the armed criminal action charge carries three years to life.

According to a probable cause statement, Lee — along with
Brown and Ashtin Weger, 19 — was supposed to bring $2,100 to buy
marijuana from Bradley Enyart, 17, in the liquor store parking lot at 2201 Ballenger Lane.

Shortly
after Weger, Brown and Lee arrived, a Jeep pulled up, according to the statement. Enyart exited and
fired a handgun at the men, and they returned fire. Brown
was shot in the abdomen and pelvic area and was later pronounced dead
at University Hospital.